Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Thanksgiving Eve-So much to Prepare!!

This is a post I write while thinking of all the many things that most people are trying to accomplish tonight in order to be ready for the big feast tomorrow! I am unable to actually put these tips to practical use at the moment because I don't leave work for nearly two hours-but perhaps it will help someone else remember something to do now to be ready for tomorrow!

1. Make sure you have plenty of containers for leftover food. This will help you most efficiently put your left-over food away in your refrigerator. Large and bulky pans will not be easy to fit in, and you will have a bear of a time getting the food back out when you want it.
2. Zip-lock bags make easy and disposable ways to send home leftovers. This is especially nice when you have people that might want left overs that you won't see again for a while. You won't have to wonder where all of your containers and lids went! Just make sure you have a quality seal zip if you are going to be putting substantial foods or heavy foods in them. My example is light snacks that won't destroy a car or refrigerator if they break!

3. Make sure you have plenty of aluminum foil and/or plastic wrap. Even if you use food containers to store your food, you might find it easiest to re-heat your leftovers in a dish in the oven. You will want to make sure you have foil over it to keep it from getting overly dry during its re-heat. Plastic wrap will help you keep things from going stale too.

4. Make sure you do that one embarrassing chore before you have guests arrive. For me, that is the litter box for my cats. I have the best intentions of doing this at the utmost last moment before people arrive because well, cats go whenever and that means up until company arrives. It never fails that I get caught up with another task or people show up early then this embarrassing chore goes undone. In my case, I would say it is far worse to complete the chore with people there...so I just ignore it and pretend it disappears!

5. The last thing I suggest you do the night before might seem silly, but it could save you a bunch of heartache. As much as you can, have out all of the ingredients for the things you are going to prepare tomorrow. For example, if you are making a green bean casserole, pull out the dish (this is important so that you are sure you have enough dishes and bowls for all the food you are making), put the canned ingredients you will use in the pan. If there are refrigerated ingredients take those out now too. If it calls for milk don't measure it but not that you will need it and note any other dishes with a common ingredient. The last think you will want is to run out of eggs, butter, or milk because you simply lost track of how many things you would need it for. In my case, setting out all my dishes with ingredients also helps me to not completely forget an entire dish I had planned to make and serve. Put your refrigerated ingredients away overnight (obviously) but leave everything else grouped together to avoid doing double work. If it is all sectioned out it is a visual reminder and a double check that you have everything you will need. Its better to go grocery shopping late tonight than find out that you needed something and the market is closed tomorrow!

Best of luck to everyone as they prepare for Thanksgiving. I happily neglected to add that most people clean their houses. I'm not having company so this isn't on my list of things to do. Thank goodness, because if it was I wouldn't be going to sleep tonight :-)

No comments:

Post a Comment

About Us

Hi, we are the Stepford Sisters! There's three of us, Jairica, Stephanie, and Sara Stepford and yes, last names have been changed to protect the innocent. We chose Stepford because we are all family oriented, capable, wives with children. Each of us strive to make our homes into the perfect ideal family unit, so we thought blogging about our failures might brighten your day!

Authors' Note

This blog is best viewed using the firefox browser.

Personal photos and material are the property of The Stepford Sisters and are for your personal use only. You are welcome to link to this site or to pin or share a post from this site; please give appropriate credit for content. Thanks!